Trials
by VannuroRB
Summary: Ah, it seems, another has come about.
1. Obedience

Obedience~

The dirt made path cut straight through the forest, dividing the trees and plants from the incoming civilisation. It seemed daunting; there was no noise of birds or animals from within, only the bright sunlight that baked the road ahead, and there were no signs of life—not even the plants looked healthy and lively unlike most forests. It was a peaceful and calm road through the woods, with nothing intimidating to any travellers, who would happen to stray on the path.

Yami gave a sigh when he stopped in the middle of the track, taking the moment to catch his breath, and stretch his arms up in the air. He could not believe how long the trip down the road was; he felt that it was never going to end at all, and there was still a fair distance to travel.

"I'm almost there…good" Yami breathed out heavily, looking up to the blue sky, and rubbed his forehead free from sweat "This heat is unbearable. I should at least get a soda offered to me".

Once Yami pulled his arms down, he gave a dazed blink to his surroundings, falling silent and rooted to his spot. Yami stood still as he tried to listen, hearing only the gentle whistle of a small breeze going around him, the isolated surroundings caused Yami to move from his spot and look around. Turning on the spot, Yami gazed down the track he had apparently came down, with confusion sweeping through his body.

"But…where am I?" Yami queried curiously, lifting his head up to stare up at the bright, white colouring of the sky "And…where am I going?"

Yami looked around at the top of the trees, seeing the large and bushy ferns reach out, like grasping arms reaching to the next tree. The forest was certainly not familiar to him, and the jagged and broken road he walked along did not spring any memory of what he was doing there either, it was almost as if he had been picked up and placed in the strange location. It explained why he could not remember about his travels, but was not helpful in comforting him. Yami then turned back to the path in front of him, jumping back in fright when he saw he was not alone as he first thought.

A few feet in front of him was a man, dressed in a misty grey suit with a trilby hat, and standing much like a butler would do. His formal attire seemed odd, and out of place in the rural woodlands, leading Yami to wonder if he was like Yami was. A sly grin came to his face when he acknowledged Yami's stare. Reaching up, he took off his hat and held it to his chest, keeping his eyes on the teenager at all times.

"Hello there boy" He greeted, earning a small frown from Yami at the diminutive name "A little lost are we?"

"What's it to you?" Yami backfired, then looking up and down his body to inspect it in more detail "Who are you?"

"My name is Marik" Marik then turned, holding out his hat like a sign, to the path going off into the distance "You were going to your relatives' house".

Yami raised his brow, looking off into the murky, fog covered distance. There was nothing he could see from where he stood, and it seemed obscure that a house would exist in such a secluded area. Marik had appeared to come out of nowhere, and his name did not seem familiar to Yami, why should he trust on what he had to say?

"I don't believe you" Yami muttered, showing his distrust towards the older one.

Marik turned his head back to Yami, a small frown appearing on his forehead, before repeating slowly "You were going to your relatives' house".

"Get lost" Yami growled, crossing his arms "You're not the boss of me, you can't order me around".

Marik stared deeply at Yami, his forehead creasing deeply in the middle, giving a recognisable scolding scowl at him. The teen thought that perhaps, Marik had been hurt by his words, but Yami was more than sure that the two did not even know each other. So to be insulted by his spiteful tongue was strange, to Yami at least.

Marik then gave a hum, bringing his hat back to his chest, before walking down the path behind Yami. As he passed the teen, Yami managed to hear a small 'suit yourself' before Marik carried on, leaving Yami to stand on his own in the forest.

The teen waited a few moments before turning around, not surprised that the man who had appeared from nowhere, had disappeared much the same way. With an irritated sigh, Yami looked both ways down the path. He still could not remember what it was he had been doing previously, and the man might have had a point, but he did not want to appear that he could be bossed around. He could have easily gone back home to find out, and return to whomever he was going to visit, he had control of his life no one else.

But at that thought, why should he visit his relatives in the first place? He could not remember them visiting, or inquiring about his health, but he had to do the same to them? Why? He was in control of his life, and if no one wanted to know about his, then he did not want to know about theirs.

The teen glanced at the woods next to him, seeing the rows upon rows of tree trunks swamping the woods, disappearing into the dark shadows of the forest. With a small proud smile, Yami walked to the edge of the woods, then began to jog through it as he pushed back branches and plants.

"I'm sure I can find a detour" Yami mused to himself, giving a small chuckle as he sprinted off further on.

The deeper he went into the woods, the darker it became, and the harder it was to see through it. But, regardless, he ventured on. The forest floor grew thicker with dead branches and leaves, tangling his trouser legs, as if trying to pull him back to the path he had left behind. But Yami pulled his clothes free. He had no care for nature, so did not stop to admire its raw beauty, or to avoid stepping on any of the floor flowers which he did purposefully to chuckle at. After all, it was his life, and he was going to do what he wanted to do. He just continued trekking through the woods, hoping he'd either come out on the other side, or that he would find something worth his time.

"Oi! Yami!"

Yami lifted his head at the sound of his name being called, spotting several men standing round a beaten car with several unused tools scattered around, the rough looking appearance only spelt trouble at sight for anyone. Yami, however, failed to see the danger they possessed. They had called him by his name, which meant they knew him, and just by sight he felt a somewhat happy and relieved to see them. Their names were missing from memory, but Yami was certain he knew them, so quickly jogged over to them to be among friends.

The men greeted Yami as if he were a long lost friend, giving him a few pats on the back and even offering him a cigarette that they were smoking, he took the gift and with a few choking breaths Yami soon got used to smoking. The group began talking with each other, and after a while Yami picked up on a few of the topics they were talking about, and chatted with them too, acting like they were his closest friends. He felt rather glad that he did not check to see if Marik had been right, he was much happier with his supposed friends.

"Oi, Yami" One of the older men spoke, gaining the teens attention "There's this guy who owns this shop in the centre of town, kicked us out and told us to never come back 'cause we looked funny, the little asshole. So do you know what we're gonna do?" Yami shook his head as an answer "We're gonna mess up that perfect little shop of his, maybe even him if he asks for it. You're the only one small enough to get through the vents and unlock the door though, what do you say? I have your back on this, right?"

"What? Breaking and entering?" Yami shook his head, tossing his cigarette away to the ground "No thanks! I ain't planning on going to jail anytime soon!"

The man furrowed his brow, dropping his own cigarette to the floor, and turned to Yami, giving him a hard push to the shoulder "Come on! Be a man! You've gotta do this! For us!"

"Hell no! You can't order me around, you scumbag".

At the sound of his insult, the men gave glares at the teen, reinforcing the presence of danger in them that Yami had failed to sense from the start. But it was too late for him, and he found himself backing away as the leader approached him, slowly like he was stalking him like he was his meal.

"You cheeky son of a bitch!" He snarled at Yami "I'll teach you to listen to what I say!"

Before Yami could turn and run, he reached out and grabbed his shirt, jerking him forwards as he hit Yami directly in the face. As he was being hit repeatedly by the boss, one of the men behind them reached down to the abandoned tools, picking up a dirt covered sledgehammer. Briefly stopping his friend, he handed him over the sledgehammer, egging him on to hit Yami with it. There was no argument from anyone to stop him doing so, and followed his gangs' encouragement, and proceeded to beat him with the flat head of the weapon. Pain rippled from every part of his body as he was hit from every angle. He could feel bruises swell, blood pour, and his bones beginning to break. And it was all due to him being picky, not wanting to do what someone told him to do.

They dropped him to the forest floor when they had finished with him, allowing his body to fall flat down onto the leaf covered ground, his body washed with pain and somewhat mangled from his beating. They gave a few taunting remarks to his broken and damaged body before moving on, their voices growing distant into the woods, until they had finally disappeared and left Yami to fend for himself.

Yami laid where he had been dropped, wanting to breathe in and out to stay alive, but found it too painful to move in the slightest and only caused greater pain for not breathing at all. His vision became blurred as his mind became hazy, he could not think straight, nor sustain the will to keep his eyes open any longer. Small drops of tears fell from his eyes, tapping on the leaves underneath him, before his eyes gently closed on him.

Yami wished that he had died, for death must have surely been less painful, than what he was feeling at that moment.


	2. Lust

Lust~

Yami laid on the ground, unconscious to the world around him, stuck in between the road that led to the town and the black mist that led to nothing. Marik stood by his head, observing the sleeping teen, with a small sigh coming from his lips.

"Shame…he's pretty attractive when unconscious" Marik mused to himself.

A small groan came from the teen, gaining Marik's attention as he watched Yami slowly wake up, his weak and disorientated body filling with life again.

Yami felt his head pound with blood, his body ached for unknown reasons, and he had a deep unsettling feeling that he should have remembered something. Regardless, he pushed himself up on his knees and hands, shaking his head lightly to rid himself of the pain. He did not seem to notice the void that cut off the edge of town, that his hands were floating upon, which stared at him hungrily.

"Awake are you?"

At the sound of the voice, Yami lifted his head up to gaze at Marik, confused by the strange formal appearance he had. He watched Marik for a few moments, unsure of what the male was going to do to him, before speaking out.

"Who…who are you?"

"My name is Marik" Marik introduced, unfazed by Yami's memory loss "I'm here to help you".

"Help me…?" Yami looked around him, finally noticing the endless, black smoke that hung in front of him. He forced himself up, backing away slightly until his feet touched the pavement, making him look down curiously at the small tap it made "Wh-What's going on? Where am I?"

"I cannot answer those questions" Marik explained, his fingers lightly turning the trilby hat in his hands "All I can say to you, is that you must learn yourself".

"Learn myself…?" Yami repeated, an annoyed frown coming to his face "But you just said you were going to help me! How is that helping me?!"

"I did say I was going to help you" A smirk came to Marik's lips, reaching up he placed the hat back on top of his head "But, I didn't say I was going to guide you like a child. You need to think for yourself Yami Aten. Good day".

Yami watched as Marik took a few steps back, giving the teen a small bow, before he stepped back through the black mist and disappeared. Yami stood perplexed before moving closer, being cautious to let his hand reach out, and attempt to move through it. However, the black mist appeared to be a wall to him, stopping his hand from moving any further in. Whatever it was, Yami was not going to walk through it anytime soon, so left it alone for the time being.

Leaving the mysterious place behind, Yami turned back to the road, not recognising the street from his hometown. He walked down it, looking up at the couple of house on either side of the street, before carrying on into the town. After a while, he soon managed to find himself on a familiar track, and recalled the streets he had walked down many times before. He passed shops he used to go into, the parks he and his friends visited, he even passed his school that he attended to. Everything was how it should have been, which only made him wonder more about the place he had left behind, or who Marik really was.

"Oi! Yami!"

Yami stopped and turned around, seeing his old friend Joey run towards him, his usual happy disposition about him. Once he came to his friends' side, he stood still and gave a grin.

"Where are you of to then?" Joey asked.

"Nowhere really" Yami answered, shrugging his shoulders casually "I've just had…a really weird day, so I was trying to clear my head".

"Weird huh? How so?"

Yami gave a hum, glancing up to his friend, and wondering if Joey would believe his story, but even Yami was finding it hard to believe it "Just weird is all…" He ended up muttering.

"Right, wanna have a drink then?"

Yami gave a smile and a nod, following his friend back down the road, as they chatted with each other. Yami had completely forgotten about Marik and the strange void when they reached the park, he had casual conversations that he knew about with Joey, and the two had even found themselves a secluded spot to do some drinking. It was just like how most of his weekends played out, and it gave him the security that everything was normal.

Joey then gave a nudge to Yami, catching his attention, and looking up when Joey pointed to two approaching girls. They were both from Yami's classroom, though he did not know the other girls name, he knew the more attractive ones name was Anzu Misaki.

"Watch out, chick alert" Joey muttered, taking another sip from his can.

The girls passed the boys, lost in their own conversation to notice the two leaning against the fence, but somehow Anzu managed to look at them. When he had caught her gaze, Yami managed to slip in a wink in her, once far away enough both girls chuckled to each other before carrying on. Joey waited until the girls had moved on, before turning to his friend with a frown.

"What the hell Yami?" Joey hissed "You do know Anzu is dating that big jock dude".

"So?" Yami retorted, taking a sip out of his can "I don't care; she could dump him and get with me".

"You're a slimy ass Yami" Joey shook his head, making Yami roll his eyes while he drank "But I guess you're still my friend. Do whatever you want, but don't be surprised if you get beaten to a pulp".

The two enjoyed the day until it became sunset, deciding to part for the evening and meet up tomorrow at school, it was just like a normal day for the teen. He could not question anything mysterious about it, he felt relaxed with his usual routine playing out, and dismissed Marik's warning altogether.

After sleeping quickly through the night, the next day came about and Yami had school to attend to, still ignoring his memory of the previous day. He joined up with Joey in the school yard, and they talked about their casual things again before lessons started, and a tedious day of education began. During his lessons, Yami ignored all of his teachers' lectures, focusing only on staring at Anzu—and occasionally flirting with her when she looked his way. He felt he should have taken his friend's advice, but he felt confident about his ability to wriggle away someone else's girlfriend, he only hoped that Anzu was easy to seduce.

When the end of the day came about, Yami waited for Joey by the lockers, leaning back against the wall as Joey exchanged his shoes. Both had been planning what they were going to do for the rest of the afternoon, hours wasting their money at the arcade was what they usually did, and that afternoon was going to be no different.

"Yami".

Yami turned his head, spotting Anzu by the wall, and beckoning him closer. Yami gave a proud smirk to his friend—which only made Joey roll his eyes—before approaching the girl, the two walked around the corner, so they were more secluded from everyone else, and waited for a couple of people to pass before speaking.

"Hey Yami, what did you think of the assignment we were given?" Anzu queried.

"I dunno" Yami muttered, shrugging his shoulders lightly "Probably not do it".

"Well, if you're not busy, maybe you'd like to come over mine, to study of course. My parents are out, so we'd have the place all to ourselves" Anzu suggested, flicking back some of her hair "What do you say?"

Yami gave a hum, looking back to his friend who was waiting, knowing he had promised Joey he would hang out with him. But to pass up the opportunity of being in Anzu's house, alone with her too, to woo her to his desires, was something he could not do no matter what.

"Sure, it could be fun" Yami answered, letting her take his hand, and walk back out to the locker room. When they came to Joey, Yami turned to him, giving another proud grin "I'm going over to Anzu's, sorry Joey, but another time, okay?"

"Yeah…sure…" Was Joey's distant reply, watching the pair walk out happily as they talked.

Anzu's house was not too far from the school, so little time was lost arriving there, giving Yami all the time he needed to come up with a plan to seduce Anzu. Once she had unlocked, and let them both in, Yami took off his shoes and looked around the house. It was much like his own home, even the rooms were the same as his house, navigating around would be easy for him.

"My room's up here" Anzu said, leading Yami up the stairs "It's a bit of a mess though, sorry".

"It's fine" Yami reassured, looking down the corridor to guess which one was Anzu's room.

Anzu opened the door to her room, walking in she dropped her bag by her bed, and picked up various items that laid on the floor. Her room was much like a typical girl's room; there was a brightly decorated bed, a desk by the window covered with makeup, several toys and cushions around the room, and a large wardrobe that held her clothes in. There was not much personalisation to the room, and seemed much more comfortable to be in then Yami's was.

"Come here, sit down" Anzu offered, patting the space next to her on the bed, while she picked up her bag to search through it.

Yami moved closer, sitting down next to Anzu, and sliding his bag off his shoulder. Yami watched Anzu for a few moments, before looking off into the room, trying to decide what might be the best pick up line would be.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Yami asked, thinking of it as the only sensible thing to say.

"Well, we could do the assignment now" Anzu spoke, scooting closer to Yami, and holding his hand "Or, we could do something else, if you want to".

Yami picked up the hint easily, giving an eager smile to the girl, leaning closer to her so he could steal her lips. The two easily gave in to passionate kissing, Yami holding her face closer, while she gladly let her body press against his. The heat of the moment wrapped them up tightly, consuming them and possessing their minds, bringing them down on the bed as they pursued on in lust.

It had been a few hours and the two had ended up stripped, wrapped up in covers, and exhausted from their activities. Yami was leaning over Anzu, kissing over her bare shoulders and chest, hearing her giggle at each touch his lips gave.

"That tickles Yami".

Regardless, Yami continued to place kisses on her skin, taking in the last few moments before they returned to their normal lives. He had to soak up every single experience he got, for he knew there was not going to be a second chance it was going to happen, so he did everything he felt was necessary to make it last.

A small thud echoed from downstairs "Anzu? Are you here?"

At the deep and gruff voice, both sat up in bed, shocked. Even through the door, Yami could recognise the voice of the male, Anzu's boyfriend. Panicked at how he would react to seeing them, both scrambled out of the bed, and picked up their clothes to redress themselves.

"I didn't know he was coming over!" Anzu hissed quietly, picking up her bra to clip back on.

Yami had barely zipped up his trousers when he heard the thundering footsteps, striking each step on the stairs as he rushed to Anzu's room, most likely spotting Yami's shoes at the door when he walked in. Yami looked around frantically, trying to find a hiding spot in the room, but the bedroom lacked a spot to conceal himself with. He was stuck.

The door threw open, causing Yami to turn to the brute who stomped in, his impressively large size and bulging muscles instilled fear into Yami. He knew bargaining with the man would not help, nor would fighting or attempting to flee, he just wished he could correct his mistakes.

"You!" He bellowed at Yami, marching over to him, fists ready to fight with "You little bastard!"

Yami backed up from his approach, but was still in reach when he threw the punch at Yami, hitting him directly in the face. Yami stumbled backwards, knocked onto the desk, and knocking off the items on the desk. Anzu gave a fearful scream at the hit, jumping off the bed, and grabbing her boyfriend's arm to stop him from punching Yami again.

"No! Stop it!" Anzu cried.

He shrugged Anzu off easily, turning to Yami again, and reaching out to him. But instead of hitting Yami again, his hands grabbed Yami's neck, squeezing it tightly so that no air passed through. Yami gasped and scrabbled at the man's hands, desperate to get him off before he got strangled, but his strength surpassed Yami's. Anzu came back again, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him off, but not even her strength was enough to shift his constricting hands.

"Stop! You're going to kill him!"

Yami began to choke, his body becoming numb with the lack of air, and terror filling his body. With the hands tight around Yami's neck, and Anzu's screaming voice fading away in Yami's ears, he knew he would not be awake any longer. His eyes started to close as he desperately gasped for air, his body becoming limp in the man's grasp, before he let go to allow Yami's body to slump down to the floor.

Yami could not imagine that he would live through it; the chances of him surviving were getting slimmer and slimmer as he listened to the couples arguing, slowly drifting off into a deafening silence around him.

It then soon dark, quiet, and emotionless for the teen.


End file.
